String Quartet
The string quartet is a popular and prominent form of chamber music. A string Quartet is very similar to a symphony in structure, with four movements in which the outer…
Of course, the string quartet didn’t just magically appear one day. The musical pieces we take for granted today was painstakingly crafted over years of work and experimentation. The string quartet can be traced back to early 17th century, and found in works by composers like Franck and Staden. (more listed above). The origin of the string quartet most likely comes from the trio sonata, which is comprised of 2 violins, a violoncello, and a keyboard instrument. However, by the early 18th century, it became more and more common for composers to omit the keyboard part and add a third soloist.
However, the string quartet really began to become popular due to the works of Joseph Haydn. The young composer, in his early 20’s, was working for the Baron Carl von Joseph Edler von Fürnberg in the mid 1750’s. There he meets the Baron’s Stewart, the village priest, and a musician by the name of Albrechtsberger. The Stewart and the village priest knew violin while Albrechtsberger knew the violoncello, and Haydn himself took the viola.
Because the Baron wanted to hear music, it is believed that Haydn’s first quartets were written because of the lack of other instruments. Thus, the birth of Haydn’s first string quartets Op. 1 , nos. 1-6. After that followed his op. 2, nos. 1-6. However, it wasn’t until his opus.9, composed in 1769 to 1770, did the form of a quartet finally made its appearance. Instead of the 5 movements Haydn wrote in before, Op. 9 was composed of only 4 movements.
Haydn developed the string quartet even further with his Opus. 20, which was composed in 1772. It is now regarded as the piece that has established the form for modern quartets in general. It is in this piece that equality is now clearly heard from all four parts. Starting from that opus, the first violin is not the one that is dominating all the main themes.
Because of Haydn’s contributions to string quartets, some which I have talked about before and some in which was after 1780, he is now regarded as the ‘father of string quartets’.
Slide 7: With the